overseas briefing A dramatic message from across the pond

Author: Mike Tierney

LONDON - The only time that I had ever left the United States was for a brief stopover at the Canadian border to use the bathroom. As you can probably imagine then, leaving Boston, where four generations of my family have lived and died, would provide me with more than just a cultural awakening. Don't get me wrong - my parents have traveled (my Dad even met the Pope), but their days of jet setting became something of a distant memory when two baby boys came into their lives. Growing up, my global education came more from the pages of National Geographic and social studies class than from actually wandering the far-off sands of Araby. However, when the opportunity arose for me to study abroad, I happily jumped at the chance.

As a double major in Theatre and English, I'm afraid I'm one of the few Midd-kids who does not spend all day at language tables. As such, my travel choices were quite limited. I certainly wouldn't be bartering with the local merchants in Marrakesh anytime soon. But one day when I was walking back from class, a friend of mine suggested that I might benefit from a theatrical conservatory program after college. Remembering that I still hadn't decided where or how I would spend my next fall semester, I returned to my dorm and consulted the all-knowing Google, which, with its all-knowing ways, divined a place in the U.K. called the British American Drama Academy, where students work with leading members of the London stage to hone their craft for a semester. From that moment, I was pretty much sold.

I suppose I wouldn't be writing this now if I hadn't been accepted to the program, but after many takes with my Dad's old movie camera, crossing my fingers and a bit of Irish luck, I mailed off an audition tape and am currently sitting here in a London flat just south of Regent's Park.

I live in a section known to the locals as 'Little Arabia.' (I know what you're thinking. At least here, I can barter in English.) Well, there probably won't be too much of that going on. My great sense of savoir faire has already managed to get me scammed out of five pounds by some of the local fruit vendors. And with that little experience under my belt, and at an exchange rate of more than two to one, I can assure you that I have at least learned well the value of a dollar. Yet, despite the high cost and sometimes shifty people, I love London.

In just the two weeks I have been here, I've worked with members of the Royal Shakespeare Company, watched "The Merchant of Venice" come to life in the Globe Theatre, seen more West End musicals than I've seen on Broadway and still managed to play the part of a tourist rather convincingly over the past few weekends. Tonight, I'm going to a production of Bernard Shaw's "Saint Joan" at the Royal National Theatre to see one of my professors in one of the leading roles. I guess you could say that when it comes right down to it, if you're going to go someplace, get there and don't stop going.